It’s early yet, but last week may go down as the week that the journalism industry lost its damn fool mind. You’ve heard (too much!) about the exhaustive WTFery at The New York Times, but here are some other cases making the news:
* Philadelphia Inquirer Editor Stan Wischnowski resigned Saturday after a staff revolt stemming from an opinion piece headlined “Buildings Matter, Too.”
* Variety Editor-in-Chief Claudia Eller was placed on administrative leave after she (a) wrote a self-critical column about not doing enough to diversify her newsroom, then (b) called one of her subsequent you’re-still-not-doing-enough critics “bitter.”
* Several news organizations, after tweeting or sending out messages of support for the protests and/or Black Lives Matter, were met with “name and shame” campaigns for not doing enough.
So provides the backdrop for this week’s Reason Roundtable, featuring Nick Gillespie, Katherine Mangu-Ward, Peter Suderman, and Matt Welch. The gang talks about the original (bad) idea behind Tom Cotton’s New York Times op-ed, the federal government’s heavy-handed use of force against D.C. protests, blatant epidemiological hypocrisy, and more media skedaddling than you can shake whipping stick at.
Audio production by Ian Keyser and Regan Taylor.
Music: “Incoming Transition” by The Whole Other.
Relevant links from the show:
“James Bennet’s Resignation Proves the Woke Scolds Are Taking Over The New York Times,” by Robby Soave
“New York Times Journalists Scared To Have an Op-Ed Page,” by Matt Welch
“Tom Cotton Wants to Double Down on the Authoritarianism That Sparked Riots,” by J.D. Tuccille
“Defense Secretary Mark Esper Contradicts Trump on Using Military To Quell Protests,” by Christian Britschgi
“It Wasn’t Tear Gas. It Was a Gaseous Substance That Causes Tears,” by Elizabeth Nolan Brown
“California County Will Allow Outdoor Social Gatherings of 12 People—and Outdoor Protests of 100 People,” by Christian Britschgi
“Public Health Experts Have Undermined Their Own Case for the COVID-19 Lockdowns,” by Robby Soave
